Laser-Ablation Inductively Coupled PlasmaMass Spectrometry(LA-ICP-MS): setting operating conditions and instrumental performance

摘要

The concentration of thirty ninegeochemically relevant trace elements, from 'Lito was determined in standard silicate glasses(NIST610,NIST612, BCR-2) using the LaserAblationInductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) instrumentation at the Department of EarthSciences of the University of Cagliari (Italy). Thedevice is a Quadrupole ICP-MS (Perkin Elmer ElanDRC-e) coupled with a 213 nm Nd:YAG laser probe(New Wave Research). This configuration allowsrapid, high quality, in-situ trace elements analysisin glasses and minerals. The calibration strategy,achieved using synthetic multi-element glasses(NIST612), with 44Ca as internal standard, gives ananalytical accuracy within 5% error level, providinga precision between 1% and 9%, at 40 gm of cratersize for all elements. At a laser spot size of 40 gm,the lower limit of detection (LLD) ranges between0.001 and 1 ppm for all the elements; it increases byabout one order of magnitude, without any significantfractionation among the different elements, for a laserspot size of 15 gm. Quality control of LA-ICP-MSanalyses is routinely performed analysing a naturalstandard glass, the BCR-2, certified by the USGS,considered as unknown sample. Results indicate thatthe instrumentation capabilities are suitable for thegeochemical characterisation of various materials of mineralogical, petrological, geological andenvironmental interest.